Brand architecture
One master brand carries everything, so no service line gets a mark of its own. This section sets out the model, the mechanics of the name in text, and the two decisions that have not been made.
Sub-brands are expensive: each one needs its own mark, its own maintenance and its own share of the attention. None of the services earns that.
One brand. Services described, never sub-branded.
A branded house is the model: one master brand, with services described rather than sub-branded.
What that rules out
Services are named in plain language and set as text, in the type roles Typography assigns. A service name describes the work; it is not an identity.
No service line gets its own mark, its own colour or its own typeface. Where a service needs to be told apart on a page, the layout does it and the identity stays put.
Why this model
Every mark that exists has to be maintained, applied and defended. A second mark halves the attention the first one gets and doubles the work of keeping both correct, which is a poor trade for a studio this size.
Recognition is the asset, and recognition compounds only when one thing is repeated. The model is worth revisiting when a venture is genuinely a separate business, and not before then.
One mark. Everything else is words.
The name is misset in two predictable ways, and both cost recognition. This is the cheapest rule in the guideline to follow and the most frequently broken.
Capital H, lowercase rest, every time
Set the name as Haux: capital H, lowercase rest, in every context including headlines, interface labels, code comments and email signatures.
It is pronounced hawx, one syllable.
Never set it in full capitals in body copy, and never spell it Houx.
Capital H, lowercase rest. The wordmark is not an exception to be copied into text.
Do
Haux. The only correct setting in body copy, headlines and running text, at any size.
Don't
HAUX. Full capitals in body copy shout, and they invite the acronym reading in a place it does not belong.
One spelling. Haux, never Houx.
Do
Haux. Check it before anything goes out, including URLs, file names and social handles.
Don't
Houx. The common misspelling, and the one that quietly breaks search, file naming and anything sorted alphabetically.
How the letters are drawn inside the wordmark is a Logo question. The two rules above govern the name as it appears in text, which is where it appears most.
The acronym device
Read as an acronym, the name expands to human approach user xperience. It is set as a typographic device in the brand file and treated as an expression of the name.
It is not a tagline and it is not written into body copy. Where else it may be set is a Logo and Layout question rather than a naming one.
A guideline that states a decision nobody made is worse than one that admits the gap. Both of these are open, and both are already blocking real work.
Two decisions have not been made
Client co-branding lockups
Rules for locking the mark up with a client’s mark have not been decided. There is no agreed order, no agreed separator, no agreed relative size and no agreed clearspace between the two.
Until that is settled, do not improvise a lockup for a case study, a proposal cover or a joint announcement. Set both names as text, or raise it through Governance and get a decision on the record before it ships.
A decision tree for new offers
There is no test for when a new offer stays a described service and when it becomes something else. The branded house model answers today’s seven services and says nothing about a product or a venture that is genuinely a separate business.
That gap is known and it is not filled by guessing. Until a test exists, a new offer is described as a service and reviewed through Governance before anything gets drawn.